A land without consequences

US plans death camp

26may03
THE US has floated plans to turn Guantanamo Bay into a death camp, with its own death row and execution chamber.

Prisoners would be tried, convicted and executed without leaving its boundaries, without a jury and without right of appeal, The Mail on Sunday newspaper reported yesterday.

The plans were revealed by Major-General Geoffrey Miller, who is in charge of 680 suspects from 43 countries, including two Australians.

The suspects have been held at Camp Delta on Cuba without charge for 18 months.

General Miller said building a death row was one plan. Another was to have a permanent jail, with possibly an execution chamber

Ok, not much to say here, except that if I'm Osama Bin Laden and they execute one of my people, I'd be blowing up cars across America.

A plan so breathakingly arrogant could only be conceived by people who think they live in a land without consequence. Executing people at Gitmo is something which will cost Americans their lives. Imagine if we kill one of these people, do you think the response won't be a human bomb in the Mall of America?

Al Qaeda can respond and ratchet up their terror with ease. It's not like you can't buy guns or walk across the Canadian or Mexican border. While I would shed few tears for a dead Osama Bin Laden, executions at Camp X Ray is so shortsighted, such a violation of international law and so potentially dangerous for US citizens, I am not surprised the Bush Administration would propose this.

The real solution is to use the International Criminal Court and The Hague for trial and detention. Which would not have the taint of the US on it. Or if you must, drag them into a federal court. Openess is our ally, not our enemy.

Steve Gilliard

Posted May 26, 2003 07:00 AM | Comments (121)